Have you ever wondered what is it to be in someone else´s shoes? I tried to observed my stereotyped-Germans everyday and I got fascinated by them each time. Got a little bit creative, then decided to push a bit of fictional motivation to make them come alive in your imagination.
Last week we had our first snow for Winter, well actually it´s not even Winter yet!!I quickly looked out from the window and saw that a good amount of snow blanketed the garden. It looks cold, dire, obviously it´s expected for a typical German Winter. While bringing my daughter to school, the “Winterdienst” ( or the winter season road cleaner) suddenly came out, with it´s blinding lights and roaring vehicle. A truck which scrapes the snow like a spatula. Snowploughing, as they called it in English.They actually work in wonders, they are personally my lifesavers during winter.
Then it made me wonder how is it in a day of a Snow cleaner?
From scattering winter traction, up to shoveling snow from driveways,I wonder what can really make their day…?
The day went on and my thoughts are wandering and wondering what is it in a day of someone else´s .Let me share with you my fascinating encounters .
A Day in a Life of a Sausage Cook
I took the courage to photograph this lady in the 500-Year old Sausage Kitchen somewhere in Regensburg. I was so intrigued by her, wondering how many “Bratwurst” or sausage does she cook in her shift. Probably hundreds, or thousands, I really don´t know.Judging by the size of her grill plate, it might be more than 50+ sausages per batch. An average person might order 1 Brotchen (or bread) with 2 sausage inside,added with dollop of Sauerkraut and mustard.Bratwurst is probably the national street food here in South Germany so I am really wondering is she also eat sausage in her break, lunch or Abendbrot. My questions are left unanswered so I would probably dare to ask a cook once we visit this restaurant again.
If you asked me, the sausage tastes great; certainly a must-try if you head over to Regensburg.A plus, eat it while watching the boats go by and I am sure you can have a simple “gemütlich” time.
The lady cook in Sausage Kitchen
A Day in the Life of a Street Musician
I stumbled seeing this street musician in one of the bridge which connects the town proper to another part of the town.The sight is really not so idyllic as it seems to be but the nature views deserves a click in my camera. I haven´t heard him playing a music. He is busy taking a selfie or he is probably photographing the skies, birds or something unusual in the skies.I really dunno.Probably he wanted to document this day.Just like any performer, he must prepared his playlist for the day , his opening and finale songs must be his “hit”. He had two guitars , one electric and one acoustic so I am sure he can offer more variations.
I wonder if his family watches his performance as well ?
I knew some people can´t get enough of their headphones ,listening to music but playing music all day long is another thing. I am sure he has his own streaming site somewhere in the tube and fbook.It should be, nowadays it´s the way.
A Day in the Life of a FalconTrainer
Imagine, you can train a falcon.Well for me, potty training for training is already a struggle but this one is something else.
She is quite special. I admire her guts, stamina and choice of profession. I got the impression that whenever she mentions that she had probably made a couple of Ausbildung (or Training), or maybe even more! in her chosen Field then, she would definitely get her dream job, here in Germany or elsewhere, anywhere in the world as long as there are birds he can train.
But how does her day begin and ends? Does she herself have her own Falcon to train, or at least a parrot probably?Was she ever bitten by it or scratched by its claws.The thing is, how do you even train this certain type of bird?
A Day in the Life of the Street Performer
Ah this one is a bit fancy. All dolled up and made up, with a costume too.The street is his stage, and his audience is always a mixture of koleidoscope homo sapiens.Mothers with children in strollers are always welcome, and oldies as well. You can always find them in the busiest part of the town. Nobody wants to perform without an audience so the choice of location is very crucial.I call him Silver man.Obviously he loves music, and this colour which really stands out. Sometimes I find it actually ghostly. He has many tricks and children are always speechless after seeing him. Street magic they called it, well not really like David Copperfield or Criss Angel, but they are one of the theatrical performers we meet in a very normal daily street life. They don´t have tickets to be sold, or a seat to be reserved, only a spot where you can actually see them do their tricks.A good applause make them smile and energized. A display of his Porfolio doens´t even hurt so take a look and buy some of his postcards if you have a Euro to spare.
A Day in the Life of a Beerman
I just want to call him “Beerman“.One look at him and I know he is a master of the Beer.He probably had so much Beer tours from past years so he knows it all from Helles to Pils. He knows everything about this golden fluid.A good German draft beer is the pride of my town, typical for a Bavarian Town where theBeer Purity Law is founded.Personally, I think I have tasted the best beer here, eversince I came to Germany. Pre.Covid, we have 2 times in a year this thing called “Bierfests“, the big celebrations for beer almost the same as Oktoberfest. It´s the best days for him as well. Not so nowadays because of the virus but I bet even with 2G controls, he still have a good drink once in a while.
and lastly, these Girls.
A Day in the Life of the Old Town Mädels
Mädels is a german word for ladies.Everytime I had the chance to visit the weekend market, I see pretty ladies like them.Sitting so cozy, busy making life, and always vibrant as ever. They never stopped working, admiring where do they get their pool of creativity and stamina. Some sells whatever in their plate but these Mädels create something quite simple, but really beautiful. Krankz, or Wreaths, pretty litlle thing bouquets from dried flowers and many more.Some even get all the materials from their own garden!They are the first ladies I got acquainted since I came here and seeing them doing their thing in every season makes me wonder…how is it in a day of these Mädels?
Something to ponder about for today, feeling great after a 10km run, a bit of destressing and still going on, after all, life is still beautiful, with its Koleidoscope and wonderful dramas.
Have you ever met such stereotype-Germans? How was the encounter?
Ever wondered what´s the smell of snow? or the scent of the pitiless cold in winter? Coming from a place where Winter doesn´t exist,I would really like to know what´s the scent of a snowflake and now experience tells me a lot…
Anyway, the other day, I was watching a series and there´s a part where the lead actor says “Come, let us see the wind..”, the lady answered
” How can we ever see the wind?” says the Lady.
“Of course, we can, let´s come to the field of Reeds, you see them dancing, sure thing, the wind is with them..” the man replied.I realized that our sensory glands tells us exactly what is happening or even right before it happens.
You see, I live in a small town here in Bavaria and I am telling you,I always go out on the first day when it snowed.I don´t know why, but I just kind of knew the smell of snow…especially the fresh snow. Probably a kind of habit I´ve picked up through the years?
This year, snow came early. It falls on weekend so definitely I decided to take a nice walk .I told my daughter that I will show her how to smell the snow.She laughed at me and said “Oh really!?, howwww? ” I am not really sure how am I gonna do it but I´ll try.Good thing, I don´t need to wear my mask when I am outdoors.Feeling excited, I brought my camera as well with me, just in case I see something nice from the usual sights that we see everyday.
I decided to wear my thermo, just in case I stayed longer outside.I have been running now for 3 times in a row where it rained and snowed, and icy cold as well and it really felt great.I got used to exercising outdoors with minus temps but it´s actually different when I only walk.
I don´t wanna cringe when my feet starts to feel cold so I worn my warm boots, prepared to walk through the fresh snow, and muddy snow later. Of course, with a kid with me ,then it might take a while longer. We didn´t bring her sled since i guess the snow is not that thick for her to go down the hills. Probably next week, or maybe tomorrow.
As we step outside, I found my daughter, clad in her red snowsuit, already sitting in a pile of snow and asking me to help her build a wall. I said what for? She said, she wanna build a wall that extends to an Igloo or something. I really love her imagination. After I brought her to school the other day when it started to snowed as well, she said to me “Leave me some Snow, Mama, I wanna play with it later…”
It makes me even wonder…”why do children loved the cold too much?” Or am I getting old? They are all super excited to see snow and play with it, They can play outdoors building snowman and snow ball fights for hours and hours.
I felt the cold in my cheeks and it´s not even winter yet, but yes, our neighbourhood is transformed into a lovely winter white scenery overnight.The smell of the snow is so pungent, it reaches to my nose, I can´t deny I need to wait for more than 4 months again after we see the face of warm sun again. German winters lasts long, I know it for sure.But somehow, I kind of sense that something might happen, like snowfall.
I ´ve got to get my facts straight so I actually researched about this.I actually enjoyed listening to the Podcast explaining a lot of Physics behind this so I wanted to share a bit of things I´ve heard.
"On an ordinary winter day, the air smells dry and maybe even dusty.
Plus the cold and pressure change stimulate the trigeminal nerve. The trigeminal nerve sends information that isn’t the same as scent, but is often associated with it (e.g., the coolness of mint or the heat of hot peppers). The end result is the human nervous system perceives a difference in the weather that may account for the smell of snow."
While walking past through the houses, I find it cozy that they leave the lights on. Some have nice Christmas decorations and lights–how fancy. It means, everyone must be staying in longer today and enjoying a warm breakfast together.My friendly neighbours are busy shoveling the snow in their front yards, as if more snow might come soon.Here in Germany, we are obligated to clean the snow in our driveways.The lines of cars parked outside are all covered in thick white snow, like a blanket of overnight madness.I guess the snow from the shields won´t be scraped up until noon today, or best, let it just melt.
My daughter opens her mouth and started to eat the snow that falls on her face. She looks quirky doing it, like a hungry dog waiting for his morning feed. We´ve seen lots of dogs being walked too, so I shouted ” no yellow snow!” you know what´s in it!”
"These elements—cold weather, humidity, and a stimulated trigeminal nerve—combine to create something that isn’t an odor, but a sensory experience you’ve come to associate with snow. That’s why when asked to describe the scent, people often use words like “clean,” “fresh,” and “cold"— a.k.a. things that don’t have much of a scent at all." -Podcast : Physics and the smell of snow
As we reached the footpath of the nearby park, we heard children´s screaming.Its not only us who heard the news. More people are outside , playing and are eager to smell the snow as well.We head on to the field and decided to roll out a snowball. It´s a yearly family tradition. Snow is bound to be rolled, smelled, tasted and turned into something else.
The mighty sun is timid. He never peaked or shined, throughout the day it stayed gray and dark.Almost a melancholic snowy day.I won´t lie that I really get excited when the sun starts to shine, but today is not my day but then, it wasn´t actually bad; at least we´ve got to build our first snowman.
"Snow that falls over a field may smell earthy, perhaps bearing a lingering scent of grass. Snow that falls on trees carries the clean scent of terpenes from the plants, including pinenes, limonene, myrcene, phellandrene, and camphene. So, snow in rural areas smells fresh and maybe even a bit woodsy."
I looked at my daughter and laughed, her suit was totally drenched on the outside and she was having a grand time. She had probably ” smelled the snow” by now!
justbluedutch 